Aircraft control device, a corresponding aircraft, and a method of controlling an aircraft

• US 10,562,612 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2017
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Helicopters
• Original Assignee: Airbus Helicopters
• Inventors: Honnorat, Olivier, Nevers, Romain, Kovel, Romain
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Kawing
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Bradley R
• Application Number:
  US15/723,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20180093757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/04 actuated personally
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/0421 control sticks for primary flight controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/46 with artificial feel
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/50 using electrical energy
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 13/507 with artificial feel
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/56 characterised by the control initiating means, e.g. manually actuated
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/402 characterised by control arrangements for positioning, e.g. centring a tool relative to a hole in the workpiece, additional detection means to correct position G05B19/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34013 Servocontroller
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 21/13 Observer control, e.g. using Luenberger observers or Kalman filters
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 21/141 Flux estimation
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 21/18 Estimation of position or speed
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 21/20 Estimation of torque
• CPC Class Codes: H02P 23/14 Estimation or adaptation of motor parameters, e.g. rotor time constant, flux, speed, current or voltage

Abstract

A control device for controlling an aircraft, the control device including at least one motor-driven trim actuator with active type anchoring, the trim actuator including at least one electric motor, at least one electronic power circuit for electrically powering the electric motor(s), and speed reduction means for driving rotation of an outlet shaft of the trim actuator. The control device implements three distinct servo-control loops that are nested in one another, these three servo-control loops being formed by an electric current servo-control loop, a speed servo-control loop, and a force servo-control loop.

Claims

1. A control device for controlling an aircraft, the control device comprising at least one motor-driven trim actuator of active type, the trim actuator including at least one electric motor, at least one electronic power circuit for electrically powering the at least one electric motor, and speed reduction means for reducing the speed of rotation of an axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor, the speed reduction means serving to drive rotation of an outlet shaft of the trim actuator at an outlet speed of rotation that is less than an inlet speed of rotation of the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor, wherein the control device implements three distinct servo-control loops that are nested in one another, the three servo-control loops being formed by an electric current servo-control loop, a speed servo-control loop, and a force servo-control loop, and wherein:

the electric current servo-control loop comprises;

at least one electric current sensor arranged at the input of the at least one electric motor in order to measure an electric power supply current delivered by the at least one electronic power circuit; and

at least one first position sensor arranged on the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor in order to measure an angular position of the axis of rotation relative to a stationary frame of the trim actuator;

the speed servo-control loop comprises;

at least one second position sensor arranged on the outlet shaft of the trim actuator to measure an angular position of the outlet shaft relative to the stationary frame of the trim actuator; and

an output branch connected to an input of the electric current servo-control loop; and

the force servo-control loop comprises;

at least one force sensor arranged at least one flight control member to measure an external force exerted on the at least one flight control member; and

an output line connected to an input of the speed servo-control loop.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one electric motor is of three-phase type and the electric current servo-control loop has three electric current sensors each measuring a respective value of an electric power supply current delivered by the at least one electronic power circuit.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the control device includes at least one computer for performing a vector control method for the at least one three-phase electric motor, such a vector control method serving to deliver two orthogonal components:

a first component representative of a setting for a magnetic flux of the at least one electric motor, and a second component representative of a setting for a motor torque of the at least one electric motor.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the speed servo-control loop includes a calculation circuit using a first signal representative of the angular position of the outlet shaft of the trim actuator to determine a second signal representative of a speed of rotation of the outlet shaft.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the electric current servo-control loop includes at least one first filter serving to eliminate interfering frequencies from a signal representative of the angular position of the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the speed servo-control loop includes at least one second filter serving to eliminate interfering frequencies from a signal representative of the angular position of the outlet shaft of the trim actuator.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one force sensor is arranged mechanically in series relative to the at least one flight control member.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the force servo-control loop includes a memory serving to store at least one table of predetermined force values for application to the at least one flight control member as a function of position data transmitted by the at least one second position sensor of the speed servo-control loop.

9. An aircraft, wherein the aircraft includes the control device according to claim 1.

10. A control method for controlling an aircraft including at least one motor-driven trim actuator with active type anchoring, the trim actuator including at least one electric motor, at least one power electronic circuit for electrically powering the at least one electric motor, and speed reduction means for reducing the speed of rotation of an axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor, the speed reduction means serving to drive rotation of an outlet shaft of the trim actuator at an outlet speed of rotation that is less than an inlet speed of rotation of the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor, wherein the control method comprises three distinct servo-control loops that are nested in one another, the three servo-control loops being formed by an electric current servo-control loop, a speed servo-control loop, and a force servo-control loop, and wherein:

in the electric current servo-control loop;

using at least one electric current sensor at the input of the at least one electric motor to measure a value of an electric power supply current delivered by the at least one electronic power circuit; and

using at least one first position sensor on the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor to measure an angular position of the axis of rotation relative to a stationary frame of the trim actuator;

in the speed servo-control loop;

using at least one second position sensor on the outlet shaft to measure an angular position of the outlet shaft relative to the stationary frame of the trim actuator; and

an output branch is connected with an input of the electric current servo-control loop; and

in the force servo-control loop;

using at least one force sensor at at least one flight control member to measure an external force exerted on the at least one flight control member; and

an output line is connected with an input of the speed servo-control loop.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the at least one electric motor is of three-phase type and the electric current servo-control loop includes a measurement step using three electric current sensors to measure three values of electric power supply current delivered by the at least one electronic power circuit.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein at least one computer is used to perform a vector control step for the at least one three-phase electric motor, such a vector control step serving to deliver two orthogonal components:

a first component representative of a setting for a magnetic flux of the at least one electric motor, and a second component representative of a setting for a motor torque of the at least one electric motor.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the speed servo-control loop includes a calculation step making use of a calculation circuit having as input a first signal representative of the angular position of the outlet shaft of the trim actuator to determine a second signal representative of a speed of rotation of the outlet shaft.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the electric current servo-control loop includes a first filtering step using at least one first filter to eliminate interfering frequencies from a signal representative of the angular position of the axis of rotation of the at least one electric motor.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the speed servo-control loop includes a second filtering step using at least one second filter to eliminate interfering frequencies from a signal representative of the angular position of the outlet shaft of the trim actuator.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the force servo-control loop includes a storage step serving to store at least one table of predetermined force values for application to the at least one flight control member as a function of position data transmitted by the at least one second position sensor of the speed servo-control loop.